Calverton Manor

Instead of settling the lawsuit by allowing development prohibited by zoning, Riverhead Town defended the suit in court and prevailed in a July 15, 2014, judgement that declared "the comprehensive plan...is a legal, constitutional and valid exercise of the police and zoning powers of the respondent Town Board... Accordingly, the petition is denied."

The proposed (and now abandoned) settlement of Calverton Manor LLC's 2004/05 lawsuits would have allowed development with 2X the footprint and buildings 7x as large as what's currently allowed on the northwest corner of Manor Road and 25 (see map) based on the zoning adopted as result of the 2003 comprehensive plan.

RNPC co-founders and the Calverton Civic President raised questions and addressed concerns at a November 2012 Town Board Meeting. We reminded the Town how it might negate one of two main claims made by the plaintiff, if the Town now truly believes some procedures were not followed. We also pointed out the precedent-setting risk this settlement poses to the Town. A similar lawsuit was filed by Lizem Associates of Manhattan to reinstate pre-comprehensive-plan zoning to allow additional development on a 179-acre parcel a few miles west on 25 in Calverton. A month later, a Town Board resolution to settle the Calverton Manor lawsuits was pulled by the Town Board and the litigation was shortly resumed in court.

Confirms the scheme to massively overdevelop this corner parcel still violates zoning and should, logically, not go forward

Deemed baseless: developer’s claim that the master plan and subsequent rezoning was faulty and invalid

Greatly improves Town's chances of fending of current or future lawsuits making similar claims (and removes potential rationale for settling current/future lawsuits by granting developers right to build in excess of zoning)